The Federation Falls
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: Inspired by Mountain King's An uninvited guest, where a visitor tells the crew of Voyager that the Federation'll one day collapse. Seen through both canonical and non canonical characters watch how the Federation falls.
1. Chapter 1

**SUMMARY - The Federation's morality is sometimes questionable. Inspired by Mountain King's AN UNINVITED GUEST, where its revealed that the Federation would one day fall, this is the perspectives of characters as they witness the Federations's Golden Age of Exploration, to its rotting surface.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Star Trek.**

**THE FEDERATION FALLS.**

**The Golden Age.**

Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the starship Enterprise looked at the stars cape as the Enterprise sailed amongst the stars on its warp fields.

It was hard to conceive humanity had come so far in such a short amount of time, world war 3, the first warp flight, Zefram Cochrane, first contact with the Vulcans, 50 years rebuilding the Earth and the human civilisation, the launch of the NX 01. 

Three hundred years…..

Only a century ago, Mankind had been confined to a small section of the galaxy, now they were making leaps and bounds in space. 

Planets, solar systems, suns, nebulas, new alien races - all within humanity's reach. 

The rise of the Federation had helped show other races Humanity was an interstellar power, it also stabilised relations with other races.

The Andorians, the Vulcans and the Tellarites had been at each other's throats for years, the Klingons had often made daring attacks, recognising their opponents weaknesses. Not anymore. Now the Klingons and the other enemies of the Federation realised that together the Federation was infinitely stronger. 

It wasn't all war and blood. 

Planets were being colonised in greater numbers than ever, joint operations in space between different races, co-operation with others never seen before. 

It was the Golden Age. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Wolf 359.**

Benjamin Sisko, former first officer of the Starship Saratoga, watched as his ship, his crippled ship was destroyed by the Borg.

The panorama showed other ships, Klingon, Romulan and federation, engaging the Borg head on and not even scoring a single direct hit large enough to cause a lot of damage.

The Borg ship itself was relatively undamaged, the hull looking like it did when the fleet made it's stand not too long ago.

The dull, leaden grey hull looked unscratched, barely damaged considering the amount of firepower battering it. Whilst Sisko understood the need for survival, for fighting off the Borg from their plans, he couldn't see how it could happen.

Most of Starfleet's most powerful vessels were here, fighting and being torn to pieces by the weapons the Borg ship applied to them.

Sisko looked around the escape pod, seeing the mix of civilian and Starfleet officers. They all looked slightly shell shocked, grimy but alive. Sisko looked at his groggy, bruised son, Jake. The kid looked frightened, shocked and battered. His mother had just died, his whole world would now have to revolve around his Starfleet father. His only parent left.

The commander felt anger. Not just against the Borg, but also at Starfleet.

What the hell made them allow civilians on board their ships ?

It was senseless and moronic, it didn't occur to them that they could be in danger. Now, his wife, his Jennifer and Jake had paid the price - Jennifer was dead, killed by the senseless and monstrous beings that were a combination of flesh and technology.

Jake was now without a mother.

They were on their own.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just like that….**

Cathy hated tents, they were uncomfortable and cold. Besides, she couldn't get any sleep, not that it mattered; there was no school tomorrow.

Or anymore. Cathy rolled over, trying desperately to wake herself up from the dream, but she knew that this was harsh reality, not a dream.

Because of them, because of the Federation council, making the peace treaty with the Cardassians, allowing them to take as many planets as they wanted and evicting the colonists who'd gotten there first. The colonists had built on that planet, building homes, schools, power stations, tamed the land. What did the Federation do ?

Give it to the Cardassians.

Oh, sure, they'd offered another planet, but the colonists, Cathy amongst them, didn't want to help build another planet. She wanted her own colony back, with her friends and school. A normal life.

Cathy listened to the sounds of her younger sister, Kelly. She was 5 years old, missing her mother terribly and sobbing her little heart out each and every night.

Cathy couldn't understand why Starfleet allowed the Cardassians to capture Federation citizens and allow them to be tortured, executed or….turned into comfort women, as she feared had happened to her mother, her aunt and elder cousins.

Why ?

The Cardassians were animals, hiding behind a façade of civilisation, they looked down upon other races and stripped them of everything they had.

Cathy got up to make herself some tea and as she did, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. It was hard to believe the tall, bitter girl with long brown hair was the same vivacious girl a few years previously. Cathy had had friends, a family, a normal life on one of the colonies.

Now, she had to look after her sister, her father was rapidly becoming a drunk and now she was seriously considering joining the Maquis.

Cathy sighed, closing her eyes and opening them again, staring again at her reflection.

She saw a bitter young girl, angry, full of hatred - hatred for the Cardassians and the Federation, hatred for the people who'd abandoned the colonists of the DMZ and the people who pretended to be civilised, but instead were nothing more than animals.

Cathy looked at her father, still snoring away. She couldn't stay here forever, besides, many teenagers and adults were joining the Maquis. It should be simple, join the Maquis and make the Federation and Cardassians pay for kidnapping her family and the other for abandoning them and letting it happen.

Just like that.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Builders.**

The engineer was floating in the vacuum of space inside a skeletal form of the latest in a long line of Starfleet ships, the hull structure was finished and now the plating was being put in place, but this ship was different from ships of the last generation, oh no.

The ships in the dry dock facilities at the moment were the new warships of the Federation.

The engineer paused in his work, thinking. For over 2 centuries the Starfleet had been following a simple doctrine, exploration and armed their ships accordingly. Whilst the starships were capable of defending themselves they weren't designed for war, these new ships were.

The new ship he was working on, the Defiant class, was small, compact, powerful and armoured like a rhino. They lacked the essential criteria a ship like an Excelsior or Galaxy class had in abundance.

Science labs, holodecks, stellar cartography….

All absent.

Instead, they had ablative hull armour, regenerative shield grids, quantum torpedoes, pulse phaser cannons…..the lot. The engineer, deciding to stop his break and get back to work, decided that Starfleet was becoming more and more militant, ships were being retrofitted with new defence systems, more over since the Borg threat and the Dominion.

It was the times.

The inside builders of the starships were working on the warp core of one of the Defiant class ships. One stopped what he was going to the new dilithium matrix and stood back to admire his work. He felt he was an artist with technology, so this was a chance to admire it.

It was impressive, just like the others.

Impressive….

The engineer looked at the compact, squat form of the matter - antimatter reactor, for such a small thing it could pack one helluva wallop. Which is just what it was meant to do.

This was a warship.

The engineer remembered all the time, the effort, the work to make ships travel through space, to explore, as was their original mandate.

Now, more than 1 third of the ships from dry dock facilities were developed for both combat and for exploration, but the majority were being made to fight. They incorporated the latest technologies, newest weapons and shield configurations.

It wasn't the age he'd wanted.


	5. Chapter 5

**New uniforms fit the Soldier.**

The tailor looked at the commission as the others worked on the latest form of Starfleet uniform and knew he didn't like the design.

The design was similar to the one before, but that was lighter in comparison. It was like wearing a jacket with an anorak over it, the materials were more stronger and gave the uniform a much more militant appearance.

Which is what Starfleet wanted.

Traditional aspects, such as the rank pips, the colours of the different departments of the organisation - command, science, security…they were all the same.

But the uniform looked like it belonged to a soldier, even the _Romulan _uniform wasn't as militant as this one - either in the last century to the current.

This was designed for wear and tear, comfort came later, but it was stronger than before.

The tailor picked one of the uniform tops up and ran his hand lightly over the material, it was flexible and stronger than the last 2 generations of federation uniforms.

It was the uniform of a soldier.


	6. Chapter 6

**In the Dark.**

The EMH of Voyager withheld the urge to sigh in annoyance as he was brought back out of holographic oblivion again and noted that the work he'd been doing earlier before Lieutenant Parsons sent him in the holobuffer without even asking him if it was alright.

He walked around the sickbay, noting the lack of anyone around to treat medically. Just what he'd expected, the Doctor thought angrily with mounting frustration.

The first few months of Voyager's journey had been…eventful, even though he didn't have the full stories on them yet.

Then again he truly doubted anyone would, since he came online people had gone out of their way to put him down, keep him in the dark and drive him insane.

The Doctor looked around, wondering maliciously how everyone would like it if their more….embarrassing medical issues, before he quenched the temptation.

It was against the sacred Hippocratic oath, medicine's most sacred law, besides self righteous Janeway would ensure he was deleted.

Just then the doors opened, revealing an ensign who just plopped himself on the biobed without saying a word. Nothing, no indication why he bothered coming here. Just sitting down on his biobed expecting automatic service like an aircar at a servicing station.

Was this all he was reduced to ?

This time the Doctor did sigh.


	7. Chapter 7

**Guinan's Thoughts.**

Ten forward was quiet, then again it was the night watch and as a result not many people were here, either they were in their quarters or at their posts.

Guinan, the El Aurian bartender, walked around the room, picking up cups, plates, glasses and cleaning up. Night times were the best times to do some basic chores, besides it gave her a chance to think.

Guinan had been around for a long time, she'd visited Earth before their atomic age and their first warp flight, as one of the many travellers of her people she'd explored a great deal of the Human race, both its customs and its faults.

She remembered the author Sam Clemens, known to the public as Mark Twain, she remembered the way he'd jumped to conclusions that turned out wrong.

Why would time travellers from a more advanced age suddenly decide to invade their own past ? That made no sense.

As time passed, she continued to watch. She witnessed the birth of the Federation and at times it worked, at times it didn't.

Data's case was one of those that didn't.

Guinan would be stupid if she didn't understand the implications and the potential of an army of Data's or androids like him.

Data was a marvel of cybernetics, he was a genius, he was everything many cyberneticists dreamt of. One of his body parts would be enough to trigger a revolution.

Had the Federation succeeded this time then an army would be created - a new species. Guinan had spent a lot of time with Data, he was okay, a bit unemotional but that was understandable considering he had no emotions.

A new species - one whose rights and privileges would always be below the surface. Guinan looked around the room - ten forward was one of many such places, large with chairs and tables. She could picture a version of Data, a number of Data's, actually, serving drinks.

A group of Data's working in an environment where normal organic life forms would be killed, working diligently to build a new outpost.

An army of Data's on board a starship. That was excellent, since Data's track record with starships was next to none.

But there was a downside.

Expendibility. One Data was indispensable, an army was not.

There was a word, Guinan knew, but prayed never to hear it from an outsider looking at the Federation.

Slavery.


	8. Chapter 8

**We're here to help you.**

" The Federation is only hear to help you.."

Sisko's voice trailed off, not realising that he was making a mistake. Kira had to hold back her rage at hearing those words, the same words the Cardassians had used.

" We're here to help you."

Help, commander ? Are you going to enslave my people like the Cardassians ? Force them to work in concentration camps, starve them and use them for experimentation ?

Help.

Since when did the federation care about us, you don't care. If you did your precious federation would've wiped out the Cardassians from the face of the Galaxy. You didn't, you just sat back, behind your homes of luxury whilst we, the Bajorans, were forced into squalor and death by an evil race.

My mother was taken from me.

My life wasn't innocent, it was hell.

Eventually, I stopped trying to deny that horror.

You could've stopped that.

But no, you're goody goody federation's too good for that.

" Help us ? The Cardassians said the same thing 60 years ago."

60 years of hell.


	9. Chapter 9

**New ships.**

**An Extract of Starship: A History. Written by Maurice Picard, 5679.**

Starfleet was a truly traditional organisation. It's weapons and credo was traditional, the regulations were traditional whilst being amended once or twice a decade, the uniforms were traditional.

The protocols for peaceful contact with other races, whilst updated once or twice was a definite tradition because new races meant new nuances.

The starships used by the Federation came in all shapes and sizes but they all had the same basic design as Cochrane's first warp ship - they had two warp nacelles held away from the ship for stability, even though it could be a major weakness, the primary and secondary hulls, separated by a neck like the neck of a bird. In many ways, starships were like birds, the avians of space.

After Wolf 359, engineers and designers were given new directives; to make the ships more compact, capable of withstanding tremendous damage and armoured enough to sustain damage that previous generations of ships before the later models would've been beyond repair.

The designs for the ships became oddly shaped, oddly designed, they started to look less like graceful birds, they started to look like predators, their bodies armoured with ablative armour and carrying new weapons and technologies to give them more advantages.

In many ways, Wolf 359 gave Starfleet the opportunity and the radicals the excuse they needed to provide a stronger force of ships for defence.

The Defiant class, used successfully during the Dominion War, was more than just a prototype for a single class; it was a stepping stone, a preview of things to come.

The Defiant class was the epitome of what a warship truly is, compact, powerful, armed and powered, it represented a new era of Starfleet ship design.

a/n Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter comes directly from my friend MountainKing. Thanks for this. **

**Prejudicial hypocrisy. **

What follows is an exert from a essay on the rights and freedoms of the hologram, written by a cadet of the second Federation. Reproduced under licence for historical research.  
Academy text book, Circa Fourth Federation, 4639.

"It seems ridiculous today, but in the early days of holographic intelligence there was some question as to their rights as living beings. Despite these rights being extended to the Soong type android Data, many holographic lifeforms had to fight to be treated like any other, there are many examples in history, thanks to temporal observers which travel back to the civil rights movement in America which ran from 1955 and 1968, those events show examples of great nerve and courage against the rampant prejudice of the times, some would have thought that history would've learnt from its mistakes but, unfortunately, it was not meant to be and this is one of the multitude of reasons behind the Federations fall. Notable exceptions to the prejudice include Voyager's Emergency Medical Holographic program and the Vic Fontaine program.  
"It is a matter of historical record that the, so called, EMH Mark One was regarded as a failure and had been repurposed as a manual labour force. Tasks including Dilithium mining and radioactive waste disposal were often hazardous and unpleasant and as such were given to the repurposed Hologram. Shortly after the return of the USS Voyager (Reference file 192:- Ships of the First Federation, section 6) it's holographic program began to campaign for his people's rights.  
"His first, while undoubtably the most important, act was also the most underrated at the time. Both he and his designer, holographic pioneer Dr Lewis Zimmerman, lobbied the Council of Mining Officials for a minor alteration to the program; the ability to grow their own hair. With great effort they eventually managed to convince the then council to go ahead with the plan, bizarre as it may've sounded at the time, it was a major aspect of Zimmerman's plan.  
"While many, both supporters of hologram rights and their opponents, did not understand the meaning of the modification the other EMH MK1's quickly did and they took full advantage of it. Almost overnight MK1's, as their generation became known, quickly began growing their beards. At first this alteration was ignored, after all that was the point of the modification. Then other effects were witnessed. While some Mk1's began shaving others did not. Some began shaving off all their hair while others, displaying a more artistic flair, began to produce any number of outlandish designs, showing their individual personalities.  
"The result, just as the Voyager EMH and Dr Zimmerman intended, was the first degrees of a visible individuality. As the program alteration spread so do the individuality. For the first time the identical programs became individuals, with a variety of unique styles.  
"As soon as the Mining Council discovered this they began to implement security procedures, attempts to remove the alterations met with failure. Deleting the entire program. Often programs were given the choice of conforming or face possible deletion. With hologram rights movements gaining numbers and popularity these incidental murders were replaced with intense restrictions. As they tightened their grip over the hologram workers they began to revolt against the hastily arrayed rules. Further restrictions were met with a corresponding rise of unrest, eventually resulting in large scale riots.  
"When the Mining Council eventually asked for Starfleet support the hologram rights movement had become a major issue and lead to what is now widely known as The Uprising…"

" The Federation had many flaws in it's makeup, the Ba'ku incident springs to mind, the arrogance displayed there and the ignorance of the council at the time goes hand in hand to the stupidity of the treatment of holograms. The Voyager's Doctor was unique when he was activated when the ship found itself stranded in the Delta Quadrant. It took the Doctor a while to move beyond his originally programmed personality and adapt to his new situation."

" For the holograms still in the Alpha Quadrant, it was still a hassle. In the past holograms had been used for recreation, historical figures appearing and interacting with the person who ordered said figure. Citizens of the First Federation were used to holograms as mindless beings with a programmed list of responses, whilst some like Professor Moriarty, became self aware and became sentient. To a logical being, like a Vulcan, sentience was the logical next step.

" It is truly a pity that the citizens of the first Federation didn't bother realising that this was possible and ignored the implications Moriarty presented.

" Hopefully, in the future, Federations of the future, will become far more tolerant and move beyond the arrogance of its own past.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer - I don't own Star trek. Paramount does, Gene Roddenberry, god rest his soul, does as well in heaven. **

**Onwards and upwards, on with the story.**

**The Greater Good : Section 31's morality.**

Agent Sloan stood watching through the transparent aluminium windows into the laboratory below, the scientists were working night and day to make the ultimate weapon against the Founders of the Dominion. Since Odo, the only good founder, if such a thing existed was scheduled to arrive in a few months, the virus would be ready and willing to do its dirty work.

If you could tailor a virus to cure cancers, why not use them to create weapons of mass destruction.

It was for the Greater good.

The greater good for the whole of the Alpha Quadrant that the founders and their insane desire to cleanse the galaxy of free will.

Sloan knew that war would break out, of course it would. All logical evidence pointed to it and there was little room for peace.

The reasons why war was inevitable could be counted off on one hand.

First, the federation had peaked the interest of the Dominion. Section 31 had intercepted the communiqués the Dominion had sent to exploratory expeditions into the Delta Quadrant, noting their increasing hostility. At first they'd actually been a simple please can you stop coming here, to stop coming here, or else.

Second, the loss of colonies, New Bajor, others….what more proof did you need ?

Third, the Odyssey incident, any fool that said that the Dominion weren't fanatical only needed to watch the flight recorder footage of the surviving Runabouts to see how far the Jem'hadar would go. Ramming ships was a clear sign of hostility.

Fourth, putting Starfleet personnel into a virtual reality simulation, bringing out paranoia.

Fifth, instigating cold war.

Sloan watched as the scientists worked.

One thing went through his mind.

The Greater good.

Please review.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Greater Good : Alliance with the Locusts. **

Chakotay listened as his captain detailed the plan to form an alliance with the Borg, some were quiet and showing calm and unvoiced disapproval but Tom Paris didn't, " An alliance with the Borg ?"

Chakotay didn't understand how anyone could form an alliance with a race that destroyed millions, ripping their individualities, their cultures and technologies apart, Janeway was out of touch with reality on this one.

He knew she could be pigheaded and obsessive, but this.

Didn't Wolf 359 ring any bells here ?

They should be taking their chances, passing through Borg space and avoiding the collective, letting the Borg fight out their war and eventually win.

" We would probably be doing the Delta Quadrant a favour."

Those ten words filled Chakotay will horror and rage, but he was too good and professional to show it. A favour, how could assimilating or destroying an entirely new race help the Delta Quadrant ?

But he knew one thing, she wasn't doing it for them. She was doing it for herself. She cared only for herself, her principles.

Her greater good.

A/N I don't like Janeway at times, I think she's obsessive and compulsive. I apologise whole heartedly to her fans who read this chapter. If you wish to criticise then please do. But know this, I will not take down this chapter. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and that includes me.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note - Just to let you readers know, this story isn't in a fixed 24****th**** century timeline.**

**The Greater good : The Fate of the Ba'ku.**

Admiral Matthew Dougherty withheld the urge to smirk when the council made their decision. The Ba'ku mission was approved.

He was delighted, since the death of his beloved wife, Madeline, death had been on the fore front of his mind; its causes, prevention etc.

The Son'a, thugs in some people's eyes, even though they weren't exactly lookers, came with the answer; the answer lay in the Briar patch, a hostile region where a race know as the Ba'ku.

Whilst the very notion of the Ba'ku living in a hostile region in the first place was a fascinating prospect in itself there was another reason for the interest, the Planet the Ba'ku lived on had rings that had special properties.

The Son'a claimed that the rings could save people and let people live longer.

Immortality.

It was sad that the Ba'ku would be relocated, but it was for the good of all.

The Good of the Federation.

A/N What do you think ? I know its short but with this story, that's the idea.


	14. Chapter 14

**Loss. **

Dougherty stared at Picard as Ru'afo left the brig. He was paralysed with horror and pain, he'd put his own needs above the needs of these people, all because of longer life.

He'd allowed the Son'a to attack the Enterprise, round up these people and lock them up like animals. On top of that, Picard had revealed that the Son'a and the Ba'ku were the same race.

The same race !

Ru'afo had lied to him, he'd manipulated him, put him into this position, forced him to allow an attack on the Enterprise. Starfleet would have his hide.

Dougherty looked at Picard and Sojef, his face slack with pain and regrets, in the face of their icy anger.

" It was for the Federation, it was all for the Federation."

Ru'afo had beaten him, shown that he was incredibly strong, uncaring of the consequences that could befall the Son'a.

He might have a point, Starfleet had its own problems, the Borg, the Dominion war. The Son'a were remarkable in their skills as pirate and adept of hide and seek.

He tried to protest, " The federation will pursue you…."

Ru'afo sneered, " The federation will never know what happened here."

He activated the device which stretched skin.

Dougherty's last thoughts were of regrets, Picard had been let down, the admiral had hoped to redeem himself and help him and the Ba'ku.

But now…

He saw his beloved Madeline, her face bright with happiness. She looked wonderful, far better than she had when she died.

_See, _she whispered, her voice seeming louder in this unusual place. _It isn't so bad after all_.

Dougherty stretched out his hands, a smile on his face.

She was right, it wasn't so bad after all.

Ru'afo announced calmly, " I'm afraid the admiral will not be invited to dinner."


	15. Chapter 15

**Fate. **

Cathy coughed in the gloom of the Maquis caverns as the Dominion troops bombed and massacred her friends and fellow Maquis, in the space of a few years she'd made friends with Many of them.

In the Maquis, they were all you had.

Cathy gripped the phaser to her chest so tightly it could crush her heart. How could this have happened ? How could it have happened so quickly, the fall of the Maquis ?

After spending so long fighting, Cathy decided to go down fighting, maybe some others would survive. She hoped so, all her family were dead. She had no one else to live for.

She winced as she heard the screams and cries, pleas of mercy from the survivors the Jem'Hadar were mowing down. Cathy felt a hot swoop of rage sweep through her, she would not die !

As she stood there, waiting for the right moment, she took the time to consider her options. She would most likely die if she fought them, but if she didn't do anything, she'd probably die anyway.

Either way, Cathy knew she'd die. She'd known that would and could be a possibility when she'd first become a freedom fighter in the first place.

Cathy stepped out into the open, her mind made up. Her last thoughts were on the Federation, how they were so full of themselves, how they looked down on their precious colonies, how those wrapped up in luxury were ignorant.

Cathy died in a minute.

The last survivor.


	16. Chapter 16

**Surviving bitterness.**

Arcturis coughed as the ship sparked out electrical fumes from the console as alarms continued to blare around him. He pulled himself into the helm chair and studied the instrumentation of his ship.

His ship.

It wasn't his, it belonged, rightly to his people. Now, he was among the last of his race. Others had survived, 10 maybe 20 thousand.

20 thousand !

His eyes started to water as the tears became uncontrollable. For a good hour, he poured out his grief with no one to consol him.

No one !

Arcturis pulled himself together, really, he didn't have much of a choice as a new idea sprang to mind. Revenge, revenge on the whore who'd done this to him, his people, his little sister, his family and friends. He would be the architect of his peoples revenge.

Janeway, captain of a starship from the other side of the galaxy, would pay a terrible, terrible price for what she'd done. But he would need to study her and her people, he would travel to that part of the galaxy, the part known as the alpha quadrant. Even at maximum slipstream, the travel time would take at least 3 months.

Steeling himself, Arcturis's hands flew over the navigational controls, modifying the slipstream conduit to adjust and take him to the galactic arm of the galaxy where this precious " federation" existed. As soon as that was done, he sat back and started making plans…..

He learnt a lot about the Federation, the prime directive was the most truly interesting aspect of that evil society - of course it was evil, how could anyone from a peaceful society allow the genocide of many a race for their own selfish ambitions ?

The Prime directive stated that no Starfleet officer would interfere in alien affairs nor manipulate events relating to those said alien races.

Hypocrites the lot of them !

" Who are you to make that decision, a stranger to this quadrant ?" Arcturis shouted at Janeway, the bitch didn't seem to be repentant in what she'd done. It was hardly surprising.

" There wasn't time to take a poll, I had to act quickly," Janeway wheedled.

Arcturis wasn't listening by this point, " My people managed to elude the Borg for centuries. Outwitting them, always one step ahead. But in recent years the Borg were able to close in and Species 8472 were our last hope to defeat them."

Hysterically, he shouted, " You took that away from us."

Looking away from the two bitches who'd help ruin his life and destroy his people, Arcturis kept speaking, " The outer colonies were the first to fall, 23 in a matter of hours. Our sentry vessels tossed aside, no defence against the storm and by the time they surrounded our star system, " he took a deep breath, " Hundreds of cubes, " breathing hard, he kept on, " We'd already surrendered to our own terror."

" A few of us managed to survive, 10 - 20 thousand. I was fortunate, I escaped in a vessel. Alone, but alive." tears started welling up again.

Hysterical again, Arcturis pointed at Seven, who'd stayed quiet so far, " I don't blame them, they were just drones, acting with their collective instinct. But you, you had a choice."

That was the difference between Janeway and the Borg, Arcturis decided. They were more than aware of choice. The Collective had chosen to wipe races out.

Janeway on the other hand was pure evil.

Just like her Federation.


	17. Chapter 17

**Siege. **

I was once a dreamer, once I wanted to travel into space and meet other races and study cultures. I wanted to be an explorer and travel with the likes of Jean Luc Picard or Robert DeSoto. I wanted to land on planets, see different skies of various colours, chart nebulas and see new stars. Breath different air.

Instead I'm a soldier.

I hate weapons - phasers, disruptors, photon grenades, isomagnetic disintegrators; hate 'em a lot. Starfleet officers are trained in defence and weapons, but because the universe can and will be a dangerous place, and you've gotta be ready.

I point my rifle directly at a dominion soldier and I fire.

I dreamt I was on a planet last night, a planet where the sky was an avocado green with yellow for the sun, the light makes the leaves on the trees glow with pure light. Waterfalls of luxuriant turquoise, mightier and more beautiful than Niagara falls, dominants a full half of the valley, the grass is long, untamed, lush. Natural.

I wake again.

Where am I ? oh yeah, at war.

When will it end ?


	18. Chapter 18

**Fear. **

Nine hosts.

Curzon, Terias, Jadzia…they'd been in battle before.

Why was it that Ezri Tigan Dax was terrified ?

Was it the smoke, the fire, the fear of constant death and fighting ?

She was a counsellor, not a warrior. But Ezri would do her bit, if only the slug in her would give her a break. Sitting in an escape pod after the Breen destroyed her ship, the Defiant, made her think things through.

This war was sometimes one big disaster. As a Counsellor, she understood the Dominion's instructions to the Federation to stop intruding in the Gamma Quadrant.

But did they ?

No.

They kept on, poking the sleeping dragon and inciting this bloody war.

Ezri took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Claustrophobia wasn't setting in, if she just sat back and relaxed herself. Yeah, if she relaxed. Hopefully the Dominion was feeling generous and would let the survivors of the fleet live.

Hopefully.


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, I'm rushing through the 24****th**** century. Only 3 more of the 24****th****, then I start making up events and using more ideas I have in mind. **

_**An Extract from **_**The Federation, **_**written in the 56**__**th**__** Century. **_

The Federation, in the beginning worked. It was radical because no one had truly bothered to make an alliance, there were peace treaties between other races, empires, commonwealths and republics. There were trading agreements with other races. But there was little to no trust between the Vulcans, Andorians or the Tellarites, the three largest powers in the quadrant before Humanity arrived.

The Federation took time to be set up, when the charter was signed and declared then the major foundations were put into place. As more and more races joined the coalition became the Federation, an organisation dedicated to mutual co-operation.

Unfortunately, the Federation had thousands of flaws, the lack of information on certain races, the impulsive exploration of space into regions where other races where territorial. The Dominion ruled such a region. The Federation received many messages during its exploration of the Gamma Quadrant, telling them to cease their continuing explorations of the quadrant.

The Federation didn't listen and continued its impulsive intrusion.

Instead a war erupted, destroying millions of worlds and killing billions, the resources of the Federation became depleted as time wore on. The Federation started to help the Cardassians rebuild their world, despite opposition from many, understandable since the Cardassians HAD started the war in the first place.

Unfortunately, the 24th century would never be considered a utopia again, there was too much death in the war and unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last time.

Authors note - sorry its short, then again all the chapters are short. The Next chapter - Destruction of Romulus.


	20. Chapter 20

My last 24th century Star Trek chapter of this story.

Enjoy.

Based on the Countdown comic book.

**Destruction of Romulus.**

Ambassador Jean Luc Picard watched from afar as the ship his old friend, Spock was flying to try and escape the black hole which had once represented one of the greatest threats the galaxy had ever known.

Aside from the Borg, the Dominion and of course, Nero.

The super nova.

For some reason, a natural one for once, the supernova engulfed hundreds of solar systems - planets, stars, moons, some of them inhabited. It wasn't just Romulus that had suffered, but that meant nothing to Nero. The Romulans would survive, in some shape or form. There were colonies out there, some small, some large.

But that meant nothing to Nero. Picard sighed sadly, pity filling every pore in his body. Thanks to Donatra, whom he'd made friends with after Shinzon, and others who'd had more than enough of the constant intrigue between the Romulans and the Federation, he'd managed to arrange for a peace treaty, it wasn't perfect but thankfully the treaty had been modified over the last few years.

It was such….a waste. If only the Vulcans had not held back from helping their own distant cousins; surely it would've been more logical to bridge the gap between them. It was similar to the Warp 5 project, only that time the Vulcans had every right to judge humanity's space worthiness. No society was perfect, not even the Vulcans were an exception to that rule.

The Romulans were also not exempt from blame; their ruling body had refused to even evacuate their own planets near the supernova's wave.

Millions had now died as a result.

Nero…..

It was hard to believe the thoughtful, eloquent and mild mannered Romulan was now an insane, hate driven murderer. Picard thought about a novel, 20,000 leagues under the sea, written by one of his own countrymen.

Captain Nemo.

Captain Nero.

It was amazing how many similarities existed between the pair of them, Nero and Nemo felt they'd been wronged, how they'd waged a war of vengeance, how they used one of a kind vessels to make their vengeance easier.

Their pain…..how they'd lost family. But in Nero's case, invaders hadn't arrived to slaughter the inhabitants of his home planet.

Maybe Nero's vengeance hadn't been as unprovoked as he would like to truly like to think.

Picard had started to notice some truly obvious flaws with the Federation over the last few decades; even the Federation hadn't responded as well as could be hoped to save some Romulans. Proud people or not, the Romulans could've used some help.

The Federation had simply neglected to give it.


	21. Chapter 21

_**An extract from **_**The Survivors Story. **Written in 2456.

The destruction of Romulus saw a new era for Romulan history. It was a truly tragic thing, watching a once major power being reduced to a third rate power. The once powerful fleet of warbirds was no longer meant for war, but for refugees becoming nomadic, struggling to survive.

The colonies accepted many from their lost planet, but only a certain number were permitted to actually live on the planets. Uninhabited moons and planetoids which hadn't served any purpose except to add to the empire's quota for planetary bodies, were colonised and built upon. They served as temporary homes, but they built up in number, eventually the resources of the planets started to strain themselves.

Federation vessels gave supplies, food, medical equipment, power cells. It was hard to believe that the ragged, emaciated refugees were once members of an empire. Politics was also a major weakness with the shattered empire.

The major colonies started to split into little groups. The destruction of Romulus, the death of the ruling body and the incident with the renegade miner known only as Nero, meant that Romulan society was fracturing and the Federation did nothing to help, believing that the Romulans would persevere and survive without much aid.

It was a sin that the Romulans would never forget. The Federation could've mustered the effort to help establish a new Romulan homeworld with a new government. Instead they didn't, ignoring the problems their wretched former enemies were suffering.

It may be a drift which may never heal. To this very day Romulan politics are fragmented.

( A/N - If you read Dr. Who's Remembrance of the Daleks you'll find that a major war fractured the Daleks into factions. The same principal is involved here.)


	22. Chapter 22

**First stages. **

2403.

Captain Eli Morgan sat in his chair as he stared at the image on the view screen of a whole solar system - 14 planets, 4 planets close to the sun in a ring with orbiting moons, inhabitable with atmospheres similar to Earth, the other planets were lifeless rocks.

Morgan leant back in his chair. Ever since the Dominion war, the Borg purges and the Voth war, the Federation had used up many of its resources and now needed new ones. Asteroids, comets, planets, moons - all were mined. The inhabitable planets were colonised for the rapidly expanding populations of the Federation.

Sometimes, Morgan remembered the old days, where the Federation explored the galaxies - Andromeda had been reached 6 years previously, seen many wonders. Now, exploration had largely become exploitation. It was slight.

But it was there.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N Taken from Voy's own The Omega Directive. A what if ? Also taken

**End of Space travel as we know it.**

**2528. **

**Captain Warren.**

Captain Warren and his first officer stared out the viewer at the vista of space. It was hard to believe that only a short while ago, his ship was one of the fastest warp capable vessels known to Human science.

Now, he and his ship were marooned in space, separated from Federation held space by light years. A journey of a few days was now one of 20 years.

20 years !

He wasn't sure what caused it, until the computer screens started showing a sign.

The sign of Omega. The omega particle, the most dangerous element in the universe.

**Archer 4. **

One of the most heavily populated worlds in the federation and close to the warp highways, Archer 4 had enjoyed a wonderful influx of traffic.

No more. Space looked like it had been ripped apart at the seams, exposing subspace as blue energy underneath. They were trapped on the planet, separated by light years to the nearest planet.

**The Romulan involvement. **

Federation president Morgan Clark stood on the podium, " Ladies and gentlemen, it had been established that the recent stranding of many of our worlds in the federation and our starships, due to the Omega attacks has destroyed large sectors of subspace, rendering our warp engines useless."

The crowds started mumbling to themselves, but Clark kept quiet until the crowds became quiet once more.

" We have proof that it was the Romulans. For this reason, war has been declared. The former empire will pay for what it has done and we shall become stronger."

The crowd cheered at the short but impassioned speech.

**Extract from The Omega War.**

Starfleet's surprise of the Omega disaster was profound, especially since they didn't understand how the Romulans were able to mount such a campaign. For 6 years, research into ways of navigating the ravaged regions of subspace went in two directions.

One, some other form of warp propulsion, and two, a different propulsion system all together. Both were endorsed by the Federation council.

But Starfleet changed after the war, the traditional mandates of exploration and diplomacy shifted into isolationism and exploitation.

The old Starfleet had died.


	24. Chapter 24

**The Higher Propulsion.**

Extract from Space technology - published 2560.

The omega war had devastated the galaxy, rendering conventional forms of propulsion - transwarp, Quantum Slipstream drive and warp drives useless.

Research into solving this dilemma, particularly the new drive of Starfleet and the Federation to exploit and expand in order to survive, went two ways. One option was to find a way to fold what was left of subspace on itself and traverse space that way, thereby avoiding the damage.

It was shelved when a propulsion system using a system that didn't involve subspace came along. It was so practical it avoided the issues of normal space travel.

Travel in hyperspace.

Hyperspace fell into the category of higher propulsion technology. The Federation and, indeed, other races, avoided the needs for the higher dimensions.

With this technology, the Federation, which, by this time, had become more and more imperialistic, started spreading across the cosmos faster than subspace travel would've let them.

Hyperspace worked by simply opening a portal along a wormhole, allowing the ship to traverse distances in less than a second. Anyone using hyperspace would be able to travel as far as they want instantaneously.

Ships underwent a vast redesign, no longer were warp nacelles needed, now ships became more larger, less fragile and without the need for two separate hulls.


	25. Chapter 25

**Time travel - blessing or a curse ?**

Temporal Agent Daniels lay on the biobed close to the imaging chamber of Starfleet's first true Warp exploration vessel, the NX 01. USS Enterprise.

That was the true beauty of time travel, really. Being able to see things; ships, people that had existed long before he and his generation had been born.

Like Enterprise, time agencies had been set up to explore time, similar to the 23rd century missions when a basic time travel technique had been discovered by the Enterprise of the 23rd century. The time explorers wished to return to the old days, where humans explored, trying to make something better.

For a long time, it worked. The disaster with Rasmussen aside, the induction of time travel into exploratory research was successful. Then again, it started to sour. Time travel became more and more dangerous as people started manipulating the past for their own ends. Rasmussen was only the beginning. Others followed in his wake.

Factions sprouted up, each with their own ideas and ideals for how time travel should and could be, as a consequence they started manipulating certain key events of one of their rival factions.

Daniels wished Archer would be more open minded and less insular; did he really think that the 22nd century was the only one where humanity would have an effect like an avalanche ?

It had been an honour meeting him, Daniels wished that it was under far different circumstances. He'd often wished to visit Archer after he'd signed the charter which eventually gave rise to the Federation, asking him questions about the 10 year mission.

Daniels closed his eyes as he remembered the events which shouldn't have happened, the Xindi mission. That hadn't been in recorded history. The Enterprise would've continued as it had for 2 years, encountering new worlds and planets.

The Xindi were never to have attacked Earth, let alone plan its destruction thanks to the manipulations of a time travelling species.

But now it was. Due to his temporal nature Daniels wouldn't remember it whilst it did happen, sometimes the paradoxes of time travel baffled even the temporal agent.

Was it a blessing, or was it a curse ?

Either way, time travel needed to be used responsibly.

A/N Trek time travel occurred to me when I was planning this story. The time war, the temporal cold war, whatever you wish to call it, has some consequences.


	26. Chapter 26

**A Darkening Morality.**

Extract from The History of Interstellar Wars. Written by Karl Waterstone. 4901.

The Xee'l, empire builders and mercilessly evil, met the Federation in the early decades of their reconnaissance's of Andromeda. It was similar to the 22nd century encounters with the Romulans, cold war, hostilities, intrigue…..before full blown war.

The Xee'l war was probably one of the most truly bloody wars in Federation history, it lasted for a period of 9 years. The reason it lasted for so long was because of the sheer stubbornness of the Xee'l, their strategic genius which matched the Zakdorn, their brutality even superseded the Jem'Hadar and the Klingons.

The Xee'l launched assaults on many of the federation colonies, wiping out millions. The Xee'l used a combination of nanite and mutagenic weapons, which wiped out all life from the planets instantly. The Federation citizens called for newer and more vicious weapons, so the Federation, buckling under the sheer pressure started working on making genetic weapons based on the bristle hairs of a Xee'l.

The Federation launched the attack in two ways - one, atmospheric bombardment, two, inoculating Xee'l with the diseases. For the first time, the Federation's moralities became more and more similar to the Dominion. The Dominion Had mercilessly used biogenic weapons before in its dark and twisted reign.

The whole Xee'l race, wiped out, their resources were used to restore the Federation and give it a boost in technology.

For the sinners became even more perverted.


	27. Chapter 27 Exploration, exploitation

**Exploration, exploitation….what's the difference ?**

Commander John Koenig watched as the planets in the solar system drew closer and closer, the Argonauts hyperspace scanners charting the planets, making rough surveys of remarkable accuracy and storing it in the ship's computers.

In a few short hours this whole system would be visited, samples would be taken for analysis and fauna would be discovered in short amounts of time, catalogued and processed. In a sense, Koenig knew that they were following the traditional and standard federation practices.

Privately, he knew different.

Koenig had been in Starfleet his whole adult life, he'd been born in space, so logically he'd followed his expertise and his earlier experiences. Koenig had seen how different the Starfleet he served in today from the one he'd heard stories of and read of in the past. Then again, could you blame them ?

Constant wars, new discoveries, races and older and deadlier empires, all of them made the prospect of exploration more and more harder to accept. The idea of discovery, whether out of base curiosity, or simple adventure was becoming more and more outdated as the years passed.

Koenig leaned back in his chair, giving the planets a contemplative look. It wouldn't be long before the committee decreed these planets as safe, allowing colonisation to begin. It would be a long, arduous process, prefab buildings, power and water facilities set up.

It would take years, but Koenig knew that the planet's future was already decided. Mining and industrialisation. How else was a planet to become viable and allow the process to occur again and again ?

Exploration and exploitation, in this case, meant pretty much the same thing. It would happen, Koenig knew already, to other races. Koenig had been a starship commander long enough to know that in time pseudo slavery would one day take place and he prayed he didn't live long enough to witness it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Dead end technologies.**

Holodecks.

Holosuites.

Replicators.

In the 24th century onwards, for over another 3 centuries, it was found that replication technologies were far more hazardous than anything else to the health of the crews, and more importantly for the citizens of the Federation not operating in Starfleet.

Replication required energy into matter, just like a transporter, but the food, whilst filling just wasn't natural. The atomic bonds broke down far too quickly for the food to be sustained for long periods.

The effects became apparent to a number of colonies, people found that as more generations came they were more susceptible to illnesses, that the birth rate plummeted. It took 30 years of research, of nothing but dead ends, when a scientist looked at a replicated salad. This scientist ran tests and found that the replicated foods and medicines were responsible.

Replicated foods atomic bonds weren't natural, they decayed too quickly. The effects on human tissue was simple; the DNA simply dissolved. The molecular bonds of replicated foods were forced, they broke under the smallest of pressures.

As soon as this discovery was made federation scientists made other links, people went hungry more often, lifespans dwindled, the reproductive material in the body was affected, birthrates plummeted.

A solution was found, two solutions. A drug was developed to cure and give immunity and provide protection, the other solution was just as simple. Normally grown foods, vegetables, fruits and many people survived.

Starships were modified to provide hydroponic gardens allowing for the production of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was like travelling back in time, starbases were made to provide fresh provisions for crews for years, like ports and harbours did for sea going vessels of the past.

Holotechnology, yet another matter - energy conversion system, whilst entertaining were fraught with issues and problems in themselves. They broke down constantly, their reliability was limited, they could be easily taken over by aliens, computer programmers could plant viruses in them, a simple programming error could see a hologram becoming self aware, like Professor Moriarty.

The holodeck entertainment lasted for 4 centuries before more better entertainment systems came into being. But even those could be fraught with problems.

Reading and watching old movies, painting, making models, hobbies, roleplays….tried and true entertainment hobbies were far nicer ways of using time.


	29. Chapter 29

**I AM SO SORRY ITS BEEN SO LONG, I HIT WRITERS BLOCK. Not anymore !**

**The Lost Colony. **

The colony had existed in another galaxy for two hundred years. The Federation had sent out generational starships with long range hyperspace engines and randomised destinations. The Federation had sent out 500, but only 60 were unaccounted for.

The more the Federation expanded into space and into the surrounding galaxies and set up homes, the more frustrated they became as they recalled how some of their generation ships had gone missing. One of the generation ship was actually alright and wasn't discovered for another century. When their ships first entered the galaxy in question, the crews heard rumours of a Human group in the galaxy. Realising at last this was a lead, the authorities back home ordered an intensive search.

The Federation was stunned by what they discovered.

The colonists had certainly done a lot of work. Cut off from the rest of humanity as they were, the colonists had had to make do. Thanks to the resources of their ship and their own wits, the colonists forged a number of home planets out of savage, wild and unpredictable planets.

They had formed a Commonwealth, something similar and yet dissimilar to the Federation back in their home galaxy. Instead of a multi species alliance, the Commonwealth existed behind a dark matter nebula that extended 67 light years in the shape of a half moon.

The commonwealth was mostly agricultural really, with mining taking place in asteroids for ores. Since there were no alien races inside the expanse they were inside, they had the place to themselves. It didn't take long for them to spread out and start to thrive in the Expanse.

The contact came after 201 years of isolation. It had happened by accident, really, a deep space exploration cruiser on a routine charting mission came into the expanse looking for habitable worlds or sources of mineral ores for the increasingly expanding Federation. The crew were understandably surprised when they came across the Commonwealth, and gotten the full and untarnished story.

The crew of the starship, which was called the Voyager, found out the history.

The generational ship became lost in space, either by computer malfunction, or by a simple natural phenomenon. The Voyager crew didn't know, the Commonwealth didn't know, in spite of their investigations over time. The answer was forever lost unless you had a time machine.

The colonists colonised the planet their ship had arrived at, using prefab buildings to live in at first before they actually started building their cities on the planet using the natural materials at hand. It was fortunate that generational ships had on board them power supplies or else they'd have been cold. The colonists first night was cold, highlighted by animals howling in the night.

The planet was hostile, the animals were vicious predators, the plants were just as hostile, some had long vines that shot out and wrapped themselves around their victims and crushed them to pulp. Others used poisonous barbs. Some of the animals resembled something from the Klingon planet, only much more vicious.

It took 12 years before the colonists tamed their planet and built mighty transparent titanium domes, lined with polymers for added protection. Using their old ship, the colonists sent out groups to colonise the planets nearby in a radius of 3 light years after their own was being built up.

Once the outer colonies, as they were known in those days, were built up. The colonies became self sustaining, and realising that the Federation was becoming a darker place after their breakaway, the formed their own government and formed their own way of life.

For 2 centuries, they spent in peace living in the expanse. They knew that one day they would need to leave it and then the Federation, if that was what it was still referred too, would find them. The leaders of the commonwealth, discovering that their new way of life was more…purer than that of the life they'd left behind, didn't want that. So they decided to send out exploration teams in order to expand their knowledge, meeting new races and expanding their knowledge.

In many ways the commonwealth became the new federation, but unlike the old one they learnt from their ancestors mistakes. This time they heeded warnings and desires to stay away from civilisations if that was their wish.

Voyager found them, and notified the Federation at once. They ignored the Commonwealth's pleas to allow them to be left alone to get on with their own research projects, but it didn't work. The Federation came, and annexed the Commonwealth.

The commonwealth leaders had heard rumours of how increasingly totalitarian the Federation was becoming each and every day. It had started because of wars, political upheavals, people who wanted to go back to the good old days of exploration, peace and democracy. Those three things were the new doctrine of the Commonwealth.

The Federation leaders, now corrupt little men, hell bent on maintaining the status quo and their power, reacted with the sort of force that was to be expected.

They called them separatists, using propaganda to make them look like criminals. The logic of the argument was lost on the political activist groups, how can a breakaway society be traitors if they hadn't had any contact with the Federation for 200 years ?

But the public didn't care, they called for war, and they got it. The Federation fleets, combining the might and power of many races, were more of a match for the Commonwealth's own fleet tactically, but the commonwealth's own citizens learnt rather quickly the art of guerrilla warfare. They kept the Federation at bay and managed to stay at least 5 steps ahead of the Federation, always mining their solar systems and keeping the Federation out. They sent numerous pleas to the Federation, saying they were free citizens, that they'd worked hard to forge a new way of life.

The Federation, of course, didn't listen.

For 34 years, the Commonwealth was under vicious and senseless attacks, held in check by increasing guerrilla activity. The New Maquis, they called themselves. Named after the 24th century Maquis group, only this time the stakes were higher.

The New Maquis developed new ships, new technologies to keep alive and they were successful. But they hadn't counted on the increasing desire to surrender. The Commonwealth surrendered after 34 years of conflict. The price was very high, many of the planets had been devastated, millions of innocent civilians dead for no reason except politics.

The Commonwealth became part of the Federation, and laws became very harsh for them. Another example of the moral inversion the Federation was going through.


	30. Chapter 30

**The Breakaway Alliance. **

The fall of the Commonwealth and the brutal way the survivors were treated echoed through the galaxies, particularly the breakaway colonies. The 59 still out there realised that the Federation had become something wrong, something evil and immoral. Unlike the commonwealth's ship which had been lost by accident or an act of fate, the 59 were crewed by those who wanted to leave the Federation.

The peoples on them had seen the growing darkness in the Federation, and they knew they couldn't change it. There was more luck trying to stop an avalanche. So, if you couldn't stop it, then you could run away from it and change what you had before coming back.

That was the theory.

With the fall of the commonwealth, and the growing lack of morality in the Federation, the breakaway groups banded together, along with the remnants of the New Maquis. Realising it was only a matter of time before the Federation came after them, they built up their strength and the New Maquis brought their old tactics into the open, allowing the plans to change and preparatory work to begin.

3 years had passed before the Federation came, hearing rumours of more " rebels " in the remote regions of the galaxies. They found the colonies, along with the New Maquis. Again, the federation referred to them as separatists and rebels, and the public ate it all up. Hook, line and sinker.

Unlike the commonwealth, the alliance lasted longer and harder. The Federation eventually crushed them, but not before discovering that they'd evacuated the planets they'd inhabited.

- Extract of Political Mistakes. 8900.


	31. The Matrix

**The Matrix.**

It was hard to believe that after the Borg, who'd been destroyed in 2381 finally, that there would be another cybernetic threat. It was a massive mistake.

Older, vaster and deadlier, the Matrix made the Borg look like kids with nanoprobes. Unlike the Borg, there was nothing organic about the Matrix, in fact the artificial sentience hated anything organic, even plant life.

The Matrix had once been a computer system developed by an ancient race with the level of the 23rd century, it even had its own seat on government because it could be trusted to be strictly impartial. A rarity in politics. But during a trade dispute, the A.I accessed an ancient data file, left behind after the race's internal wars, and was tainted by a virus. The virus infected the oldest sections of the A.I, and even though it was software in cyberspace it was still vulnerable to computer viruses. It was truly amazing how destructive the virus was, especially its side effects. With the directives it had infected, the matrix went insane.

People started dying, and the horrifying truth came out, their benevolent technological god was killing them. The A.I took over the antimatter power plants and flooded the atmosphere with theta radiation, killing everything on the planet in a short space of time.

That done, the Matrix took over the spaceships with robots built in automated factories and programmed to exterminate all life they came across, and spread out. The robots exterminated everything they came across, wiping them out with a number of weapons - nano viruses, bio weapons, bacteriological weapons, it didn't matter in the end. Millions of races were wiped out, and their knowledge was absorbed by the Matrix A.I.

Humanity met the Matrix in the 71st century when the Federation was colonising a planet near the Matrix's space. The result - extermination of the 90,000 inhabitants. War ! The Federation had studied the remnants of Borg science and technology for centuries, and that knowledge was put too great use.

The Matrix met its match, especially when Borg weapons were used. Even though the Matrix was older than the Borg, the Borg Collective would've assimilated the Matrix with no trouble.

The War lasted 20 years though, the Matrix was more vicious than the Borg and the end brought something out of the Federation.

A love of war.


	32. Chapter 32

The Final Collapse of the United Federation of Planets.

Isolationalism.

It was one of the many things all the cultures that made up the Federation had in common, and it wasn't until the 24th century that Starfleet and the rest of the Federation got their first view of isolationalism, but that it came from the Vulcans, one of the most peace loving races in the galaxy, was more startling. Their view was that mixing with aliens was destroying the cultural purity of their race. This group of Vulcans tried to use the feared weapon, the Stone of Gol, a psychic resonator to kill with thoughts of violence, to make their point.

The Vulcan isolationists were rounded up, but like a weed they kept growing and many started to materialise out of nowhere, and it wasn't just on Vulcan, it was also on other founding worlds, Earth, Andor, Vulcan, and Tellar and even on Earth, where in the past after the Xindi attack in the 22nd century where the Terra Prime movement started to become popular, and terrorism against aliens pushing for Earth's isolation became popular, so too in the Federation did such values become popular themselves. As the years passed, and the Federation moved further and further away from the charter the isolationist groups grew and grew, using the growing fading of the values the Federation charter brought up, and starting wars with more older and advanced empires, the wish for isolationism grew more and more. Worlds like Trill were also affected, and there were increasing voices raising in protest for how the Federation was becoming corrupt.

The first strike of the isolationists came from Vulcan and Betazed, where the new leaders were pro isolationists, and they broke away from the charter of the Federation. With two of the most influential members gone, one of which was a founding member of the Federation, all the others started to withdraw as well, the chain reaction acting like a row of dominos. The most surprising move came from the human race themselves, and they completely broke away from the Federation charter. With the founding members gone, the Federation collapsed on itself, unable to even rally any more races to help support it.

After the collapse, all the other races maintained diplomatic relations because they were so used to it, and that didn't and would probably never change, trade, and commerce, but that was all. The races that had been a part of the United Federation of Planets, simply went their own ways.

But one good thing came out of the Federations collapse; it meant new changes, new challenges. The Federation had lasted for centuries, but the Federation had not been a federation for a long time, and the final collapse left them the way they had been the way before they joined, in some ways hostile, but now they were more enlightened with the views of other races.

It was a priceless gift.

**Sorry its so short, and sorry for how much time has passed since the last update, but I've been racking my mind for any way to make the story end properly. I found it by watching the Next generation episode ' Gambit ' where there was a Vulcan isolationist movement, and I thought, if that existed on Vulcan, what would happen if larger groups merely withdrew from the Federation?**


End file.
